Reviews

I've been walking around with a huge question mark over my head since seeing "No Country for Old Men" about a month ago, and I've felt so alone in my immediate circle of friends -- almost afraid to voice my opposition to the overwhelming tsunami of critical praise that has washed over this film.

I consider myself an educated film-goer, I have a college degree, and I'm in my mid-40s. I should also say that "Fargo" is my favorite movie EVER, and I love the Coen Brothers. I'm from Wisconsin, so I get their whole Minnesota perspective -- that quirky sensibility plays well with me. So when I walked out of the theater completely disappointed and confused, it rocked me to my Coen-loving core.

All I can say is that I agree with many of the less-than-stellar posts here. I think for me it probably boiled down to two major problem areas: I didn't really get the message/point, and I found myself not caring about any of the characters. I really wanted to like the film, and it just didn't work for me. Endastory.

Because the reviews of this film have been so overwhelmingly positive, I was reluctant to post a comment, but after reading others' raves I can only conclude that none of these people has had any serious, first-hand experience with Alzheimer's Disease.

My mother has suffered from Alzheimer's for 14 horrible years, and my mother-in-law had it for about that long before passing away. In both cases, I watched as the disease progressed from early warning signs to the near-total dementia that necessitated admission to a facility; I admitted my mom just a few months ago. To say that I have a lot of first-hand knowledge and experience as a caregiver and as a witness to the ravages of Alzheimer's is an understatement. Therefore, I have to say that I found this film so unrealistic that my husband and I were shaking our heads through much of the poorly written dialogue and actually LAUGHING out loud many times at things that definitely were not intended to be funny.

Everyone is heaping kudos on 27-year-old writer/director Polley, but I found her inexperience and naivete regarding the subject matter glaringly obvious. Julie Christie's character was WAY too self-aware -- nobody with Alzheimer's would say many of the things she did, nor would they willingly be skipping off to an Assisted Living facility/nursing home when there is no apparent need for her to go there for some time, perhaps years.

And speaking of the facility, I have toured a lot of them, and I can promise you the scenes depicted in this film are not the norm. Never is the always-at-the-ready Executive Director there at the door to greet you and take you to your loved one. You're lucky if you get a "hello" grumbled in your general direction -- that is, if they have any idea who you are or who your loved one is. And the head nurse/caregiver who seems to have all the time in the world to sit and chat -- and most unbelievably, to pass judgment on the husband for past indiscretions that she's somehow gleaned from his cryptic comments -- is completely absurd. It's unusual to find a caregiver who speaks English, much less one who could be a psychologist/marriage counselor in her nonexistent spare time.

I really, honestly wanted to like this film and I absolutely love Julie Christie and Olympia Dukakis, but I was so very disappointed. And while I can't imagine Julie Christie winning an Oscar for a role that is so poorly conceived and written, I would give one to the makeup/hair stylist. I have never seen anyone with Alzheimer's look one-millionth as good as she did, and that flight of fancy alone is worthy of some serious Academy love.